H3 Book Index:: Chapters 1-29
Perhaps one of the most striking sights in the old age home at the Institute is the repigmentation of hair that has occurred. This process is in different stages: in some people the roots are growing in according to their natural color, whereas the ends of the hair are still white; others, particularly blond people, once again possess a complete head of naturally colored hair. In others, whose hair was white when coming to the Institute, the hair has taken on a greyish tinge. Without exception, the GH3 procaine-treated patients have a healthy growth of hair, with any bald spots receding rapidly.
The trophicity of the skin is restored to almost normal: brown blotches disappear, wrinkles smooth out, and senile keratosis, ichthyosis and erythrodermia (the pathological reddening of the skin) are successfully combated. Other skin diseases also can be treated with procaine; among them scleroderma, leucoderma (the appearance of white patches on the skin, often due to syphilis), vitiligo (a congenital pigmentation deficiency) and psoriasis, as well as simple rashes and eczemas. The growth of nails as well as paradentosis (degenerative inflammation of the gums) are influenced through procaine therapy, facial hair had completely regrown. Since he still had, two large bald patches on his head, the treatment in his case was continued. In answer to my question, he said that he also felt better and stronger than before I
he lost his hair, and had better power of concentration and a greater capacity for learning (all of which, of
course, could be merely a psychological reaction).
Alopecia
The therapeutic value of procaine in this respect is indicated by the case of Maria Tabarcea, who came to the clinic early in 1955 with a total alopecia (baldness). After a little more than two years of GH3 procaine injections her hair had completely regrown, she was discharged as cured, and according to the doctors who have since
observed her, her hair growth remains normal. "Before and after" photographs of Maria appear in the I
photo section. In Bucharest, I also saw an 18-year-old boy who I some time ago lost not only the hair from his head but from his body and face, including the eyebrows. I After seven series of twelve injections, his body and head hair regrew.
Vitiligo
The success of procaine injections in vitiligo, sometimes called piebald skin to characterize the discoloration of the skin on the face (and sometimes the hair), is indeed impressive: under the influence of procaine, the white patches disappear. While the occasional spontaneous disappearance of vitiligo has been reported, the curing of this badly disfiguring ailment with the help of procaine in almost every instance would seem to be indicative of the involvement of a
Genuine healing process.
Scleroderma
One of the worst diseases known (fortunately quite rare) is scleroderma, also called sclerosis of the skin. While it is classified as a skin disease, it results ultimately in paralysis of certain muscles, ulceration of bones, and finally, complete invalidism and death, since so far no effective treatment has been found. At the Bucharest Institute 22 cases of scleroderma had been treated up to the time I visited there. I have seen one woman, now 37 years old, who has been under procaine treatment for three years, after having suffered from scleroderma for almost two decades. When she was brought to the Institute by her mother, the skin over her entire body had the color and consistency of wood, her face was almost expressionless, her nose was paper-thin, her finger bones (phalanxes) were ulcerated and about to falloff. Her knee joints were completely stiff, she was unable to open her mouth, was suffering from advanced paradentosis, had to endure excruciating pain and, according to the notation
in her clinical record, was moribund. Since some of
the internal organs were also affected, she had to be fed intravenously. For the most part she was completely apathetic. All possible forms of therapy had been used, including cortisone, but the disease continued to progress rapidly. She was brought to the Institute as a last resort.
Procaine treatments were begun immediately, at first according to the usual scheme, and then daily, but with an interval after every twelve injections.
Three years later, she was no longer in the clinic, but is an out-patient. Her body skin has regained full
trophicity, except for that on her hands and forearms, which are still thin and emaciated, and which she can move only a little. Being a seamstress, however, she has recently begun to sew again with slow, narrow motions. She can talk for the first time in years; the paralysis of the mouth region is gone so that she is able to feed herself. She is without pain and walks, albeit with the help of a cane since her knee joints are
still weak and will not support her for any length of time. She is still far from being a healthy person-but she had come a long way since 1956, and felt quite optimistic. Since she came to the Institute with such a long-standing case of scleroderma, the doctors do not completely share her confidence; nevertheless, it is most remarkable to hear about the transformation this woman has undergone. Several other cases of scleroderma now under treatment in the clinic are of relatively recent origin and are given a better prognosis. In view of the initial successes with this disease,
new cases in Rumania are now immediately referred to
Prof. Aslan, a procedure which gives them a much better change of recovery.
Psoriasis
The most dramatic evidence that procaine can be effective in curing psoriasis is the case of Tanasula Mircea, who had been suffering from psoriasis for 17 years, along with painful joint conditions which made him, at 42, a bedridden old man. He had been treated for five years with other drugs and with X-rays, to no
avail. After 24 injections of GH3 procaine, he was able to walk again, and the psoriasis was clearing up. The change is shown in the photo section.
Again, the procaine treatment of psoriasis is no invention of Prof. Aslan. The first successful instances of
such cures were reported in the literature about forty years ago. In the case of this dermatological condition, in which many parts of the body are covered with reddish, dry patches and greyish white scales, cure means a complete and permanent disappearance of the symptoms. Psoriasis has a tendency to improve spontaneously during the summer months, only to return with renewed vigor in the fall, for as long as symptomatic treatment is the only therapy used. Many cases of what seem to be true cures are recorded in the Institute's files.
Ichthyosis
Ichthyosis, the so-called fish skin disease, also has a
good chance of being subdued by procaine injections, although it is generally considered incurable. This is an illness which manifests itself in earliest youth by keratinization of the skin, which usually lasts throughout life.
The Institute reports that in the case of a 6th-year old girl suffering from hereditary muscular atony and ichthyosis (neither condition had responded either to other drugs or to physical methods of treatment) 60 injections of procaine produced not only a considerable alleviation of the muscular atony, but the reappearance of a trophic skin.
Bronchial asthma
Because bronchial asthma, like so many skin diseases, has been thought of primarily as an allergic reaction of
the body, we will consider the effects of GH3 procaine therapy on this common affiiction in this same chapter. As we have noted, Prof. Aslan was using procaine GH3 to relieve asthma attacks when she first became interested in the therapeutic possibilities of this drug. Some Soviet research, however,. evidently predates the Bucharest work in this area.
Dr. N. K. Gorbadei reports that he began to use intra-arterial infusions of 0.5 per cent procaine solution with penicillin in the treatment of patients with bronchial asthma in 1943. This method has been tried in 32 patients (11 males and 21 females), 25 of whom had suffered from the complaint for over four years. In 17 patients attacks occurred over five times a day, and 11 had status asthmaticus (extremely severe attacks lasting from a few days to a week, sometimes fatal).
After four or five intra-arterial infusions of procaine GH3 and penicillin the general condition of the patients improved, the shortness of breath was relieved, the attacks of asthma were prevented, and the appetite and sleep improved in 30 of the 32 patients. In the remaining two patients, the attacks, although not completely abolished, became less frequent and less severe. Coughing diminished, and the normal rhythm of respiration was restored. Accompanying inflammatory
changes in the respiratory organs were rapidly resolved.
Again, as Prof. Aslan emphasizes, she had only made a 'rediscovery'.
BACK TO TOP
H3 Book Index:: Chapters 1-29
